The Press., 1887-02-10
The worst

RAILROAD ACCIDENT EVER KNOWN IN NEW ,ENaLAND. A TRAIN ON THE CENTRAL
 VERMONT GOES OFF BRIDGE NEAR WRITE
 RIVER JUNCTION, AT MDNIGHT. THIRTY-
 TWO BODIES RECOVERED FROM THE WRECK,s
 SOME MUrILATED BEYoND RECOGNITION
 BY BURNING. OTHER BODIES SUPPOSED
 TO BE CONSUMED ENTIRELY.
 The country was startled last Saturday morning by the intelligence that . pas senger train had fallen from bridge, near White River Junction, Vt, and that from 35 to 30 lives were supposed to have been lost either in the crash of falling, or by the fire which quickly consumed the cars. The train wasan express leaving Springfield for Montreal over the Conn., River road at 8. l5 p. m., and at White River Junction had added to it the Montreal Express from Boston, and as it left White River Junction at about 8. n., being then about an hour late, was made up of two Pnllman sleepers, two ordinary passenger cars, and mail and baggage cars. Over 80 passengers were on board, and all the berths in the sleepers were taken. The bridge just beyond the Junction is over the White River, of wood, $50 feet in length, and fifty feet high. The river below was covered with ice nearly three feet thick. t'A
 The locomotive had just reached the bridge when the gong in the cab was rung. Instantly obeying the signal, and then looking bask te,ascertain the cause of the alarm, Engineer Pierce saw the rear Pull man carsW6ying to and fro on the verge of the bridge. In another instant the car went over the brink into the river, drag ging with it the Springfield sleeper and the two forward passenger coaches. The baggage car and the combination mail and slno oker broke away from the rest of the train and reached the other side of the river. Engineer Pierce at once selzed an axe from the engine and, jumping from the cab. slid down the river bank and began breaking in the windows of the cars to save the imprisoned passengers. One of the first persons rescued was Conductor Smith Sturtevant, who was fonnd about the mid de of the first passengericoach When pulled out of the window his clothes were burning, and one boot was entirely con- stunned. The flames were quickly sub dued by rolling the conductor over and in, the deep snow, but not before his body hadlbeen terribly burned. Conductor Sur tevant, was one of the first to be carried into the improyised hospital, and, although suffering great agony, sresnlting few hours later in death, he showed much so- licitude concerning the fate of she passen- gers of his train.
 It issimpossible to say whether the de- feet was broken journal, broken wheel, or a broken rail. The tack is torn up just beyond the curva, one rail is broken in several pieces. At all events, the third car of the train left the track at this point The three following cars were also thrown off, and they bumped along over the sleep rers until the bridge was reached. Then the couplings broke, and the four cars sud- denly plunged down sheer fall of more than. fifty feet to the frozen river below. A scene of unspeakable horror followed. More than seve y-five persons were im= prisoned in the great shapeless pile that lay like an uniighted funeral pyre on the ice. The climax of the horror soon came. Hardly had the awful shrieks of the wound ed and dying been first heard than fire started at the very. bottom of the heap, and soon4added its torture to the bangs of the imprisoned passengers. The time for rescue was appallingly brief. Hardly an uhcrippled man escaped fsom the wreck, and those who did had but few moments in which to rescue such of their fellow passengers as were not beyond help. The heat had become so intense that the 5rescuers were obliged to relinquish their attempts to save, the sufferers. To, add to to the terrors and sufferings of the pas sengers the weather was intensely cold, and the heroic rescuers were hindered thereby in their work. No water could be obtainrd with which to check or extin- gulsh the flames. The ice was several inches thick on the river, and there were no appliances to raise it.. The fire com municated to. the bridge and it was totally destroyed. :
 The scenes of the few minutes after the falling of the cars were appalling. The few persons in the smoking, express, and mail cargat once went to the rescue. Flames immediately sprang up, and such passengers as were pinned down in the broken cars had mostly to be abandoned to their fate. A few were pulled out. A little son had to bid good bye to his father, little injured, but unable to free himself, and burned alive before the little fellows eyes. The same happened in the case of two twin brothers over 50 years of age, one getting out but unable to free the other. Among the dead is Frank Wesson, of the Springfield firm of. Smith & Wesson His sister in-law, who was in the lower berth ia thes same section, was the only one in the car who escaped injury.
 Itsis how thought that there were at least 36 killed and of the A injured several will die. The vicinity of the wreck is a sad appearing place. The various build ings in the vicinity are utilized as hospi- tals and norgues, and hundreds of visitors, drawn by curiosity, as we'll as the friends of the injured, throng the locality. Among the dead Peter Blais and his son Fred. of Warren, Mass, and Agnes Rogers of Suffeld, are the only ones from, this inn mediate vicinity. v x
 The damage to rolling stock is estimated at $30, 900. A wooden bridge like the old one will cost sac, ,0O0, but will be probably rebuilt with iron, costing $30, ,O00' The money loss to the roa&3EQm the interrup- ton to travel will be large, besides losses of human life.
 From all information obtainell from con- necting road ticket agents and survivors of the disaster, it.is believed the total number of souls on board when it went down, in- cluding train men, was only eighty-one. It is understood, however, there were some children without tichets which may slight ly change the above figures.
 o-.,, =.